Jump Then Fall
by Falling Into Flight
Summary: "People come and go in life all the time. There's no use crying over something that will never change."
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **_This is my first Young Justice fic. It's actually my first fic in general so this might not have turned out exactly as I wanted it to… but oh well I guess. This will be a multi-chapter story, probably about six or seven so stick with me! __I worked really hard on this but thanks anyway to Nat (sweetandunknown) who put up with my millions of spelling and grammar errors. Only true friends will do that :D_

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Young Justice… or else I would have more than one episode a week. _

Chapter 1

**Wally**

If there was anything Wally hated more then the team without Megan there to flirt with, it was being wrong. Especially if he was being proven wrong by a certain whiny, blonde, son-of-a-bitch archer that he was forced to call his teammate. Even saying her name made him want to vomit.

"If you hadn't tried to be all macho then I would've had her!" The blonde archer fumed for the millionth time as she, Wally and the rest of the team trudged back to the cave after a rigorous training session with Black Canary. Wally rolled his eyes. If anything good had come from their constant fighting, it was the fact that he was getting really good at drowning her out.

"Well you were already down, no big surprise," Wally retorted back, throwing his hands up in exasperation and stopping his trek back to the cave. Dick ran into him and Wally grimaced as the Boy Wonder's elbow pierced his stomach. The speedster shoved him away, a little harder then expected, and narrowed his eyes at the blonde standing in front of him. "Sorry dude," he murmured as Dick hit the floor and his utility belt items scattered around him. Before Dick could even reply, Wally turned back to the blonde dressed in green. "So what the hell was I supposed to do? I had a better shot so I took it!" Wally shouted, knowing the defense of his actions was futile. The blonde put her hands on her hips.

"No! I know your tactics Wally! I've seen you do them enough!" She shouted and crossed her arms. "You purposely 'ran into me' at that hyper, spastic speed so I would be down. That way I wouldn't take your big moment!" The archer exclaimed, her hand straying dangerously close to her bow. "My God, Wally! Is it so difficult to admit that and move on?" She added.

"God damnit!" Wally fumed. "Just drop it, Artemis! I'm sorry I took your big chance and I'm sorry that the prissy, little princess can't let anyone else have a moment either!" He continued. There was a pregnant pause. "Even though you were nowhere near close to taking down Canary, so I don't know what you're even talking about!" Artemis' eyes hardened and the two got in each other's faces. Just as the archer in green was going to reply, Kaldur stepped in the middle of the two.

"Stop it! You guys must stop arguing about such trivial thing!" The Atlantean said, gesturing to pretty, little Megan to hold back a seething Artemis who was practically foaming at the mouth. In spite of himself, Wally let out a laugh. He didn't know anyone who would get so angry over such simple things. And if Artemis was miserable, it meant he was doing his job. Artemis glared the king of all death glares at him and he smirked in reply.

"Seriously guys!" Innocent and adorable Megan chirped, stepping out from behind Artemis. "You're bringing the rest of the team down with your constant fighting!" Wally rolled his eyes; he and Artemis got this lecture at least once a week. Without missing a beat Wally replied,

"I'll bring you down to the altar, Green Cheeks," with a wink at Megan. Artemis rolled her eyes as Megan's fair, green face tinted a light shade of pink. Superboy shot Wally a pointed glance and put an arm around Megan's shoulders.

"That's funny, Wally," Megan said with a small laugh as she followed Artemis, who was stalking back to the cave.

Wally turned his attention back to Kaldur, who was watching them leave, Superboy, who was standing with his arms crossed and his ever-present frown on his face, and Dick, who was still on the floor, scrambling to gather all the fallen items from his utility belt.

"Women," Wally shrugged. "I'll never understand them."

**Artemis**

"What is wrong with him?" Artemis raged as she and Megan entered the main room. The blonde threw herself on the couch and Megan immediately entered her favorite room-the adjoining kitchen. "I don't know why he can't just admit that he was wrong and apologize! Why can't he just let it go?" Artemis heard the clang of pots and pans from the kitchen behind her then saw Megan's lower to the ground to pick up the giant pot she had dropped.

"Guys are weird," Megan said simply, drying her hands on a blue dishtowel patterned with snowflakes. "Like look at Conner for instance," the little Martian girl said, sitting beside Artemis on the couch. "His moods change in an instant. One minute he's all sweet and the next," she snapped her fingers. "He's all angry and throwing things around the room."

"But you and Con are different," Artemis said, twisting a golden-blonde lock around her finger. "You guys are… together. He's allowed to be moody because you'll… accept him or whatever." Megan laughed at Artemis' attempt at explaining the relationship, the tinkling sound filling the room.

"So how exactly are we different?" Megan asked, heading back to the kitchen and picking up her heavy cookbook.

"Like I said," Artemis began. "You and Conner are a couple. Wally is literally just around to piss me off." Megan made a face.

"_He's_ not just the problem," she said, throwing this and that into the pot.

"What do you mean?" Artemis asked, picking up one of Megan's _Seventeen's_ and flipping through it. Megan leaned against the counter and crossed her arms.

"It wouldn't kill you to at least _try_ to be nice," Megan finally said slowly. Artemis raised her eyebrows at her friend's reply.

"Excuse me? _I'm_ the one who needs to be nice?" Megan sighed and went back to the stove.

"I'm just saying," the Martian said, stirring whatever was simmering in the pot and taking a quick taste. "You guys fight all the time. Sometimes he starts it, sometimes you do. Either way, it's bringing a bad dynamic to the team. At least try to be friends? For all of us?" Artemis thought her eyebrows would fly off her face at the idiocy of what the Martian was saying. Then she sighed.

"Fine. I'll try. But if he starts anything, the deal's off." Megan's face lit up and she ran to hug the archer.

"Thank you so much! You and Wally will be the best of friends!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah," Artemis muttered. "The best of friends."

**Megan**

"I'm going to have a shower," Artemis announced, standing up from the couch and heading in the direction of her bedroom.

"Okay!" Megan said cheerfully. "Dinner will be ready in forty-five minutes! If you're not out I'll save you a bowl!" Artemis waved gratefully over her shoulder as Megan put a top on the soup. Just as she did, the boys entered the room loudly, arguing about whether someone named Megan Fox was attractive or not. Megan made a mental note to search this 'Megan Fox' character on the 'Internet' later, a thing that Wally had explained to her last weekend.

"Hi Conner," the little, green girl said with a blush as he walked in, dragging Robin by the collar of his jacket.

"Honey, I'm home!" Robin called to Megan, which earned a firm tug of his clothing from a glaring Conner. Wally eased the Boy Wonder from the annoyed clone's grip and grabbed an apple from the porcelain fruit bowl before casually hoisting himself onto the counter beside the Martian's cuisine.

"So," he paused, taking a bit of his apple before continuing with his mouth full. "What's cooking good-looking?" He smiled at Megan and could almost feel the glare of Superboy's nonexistent heat vision on him.

"Way to go idiot, now you have two people mad at you," Robin chided with a smirk.

"Just a little soup I whipped up," Megan smiled modestly and ignored the Boy Wonder's comment. Conner then made his way towards her, pausing to peck her cheek before making his way out of the kitchen for a shower. The poor girl nearly fell over, and gripped her ladle; turning all of her attention to the soup rather then the three spectators still present.

"Thank you for cooking, Megan," Kaldur grinned sincerely, slightly amused at his team's antics and genuinely thankful for her kind gesture.

"Mm-hmm!" She squeaked, blushing.

"It's a little late to charm Meg, Kaldur," Robin scolded teasingly. "She's already found her Superboy." Megan's head lowered, and Kaldur shoved the younger boy lightly.

"Well," Wally emphasized and threw his apple core at the trash can-it missed and was levitated in by a flustered Megan. "I think I'll go thaw the ice queen." He hopped off the counter clumsily, and exited from the kitchen. Megan shook her head. These Earthlings could never just be nice...

"I don't think that's such a good idea!" She called to Wally as he walked in the direction of Artemis' room. Kaldur shook his head and rolled his eyes lightly, leaning over Megan's pot for a taste of soup.

**Wally**

Wally knocked on Artemis' bedroom door, slightly put off by the pictures of actors and boy bands taped over its exterior. He didn't think Artemis was that kind of girl. After standing outside her room for a solid five minutes and feeling like an idiot staring into the eyes of a young Leonardo DiCaprio, Wally finally twisted the knob and softly entered the room.

It took his eyes a minute to adjust to the light in Artemis' room. The lights were off, and the room was completely dark except for the faint glow of her cell phone screen on her desk. Wally waited for Artemis to yell at him for barging into her room without permission, but it never came. He heard the water turn on in the bathroom the girls used next door and grinned devilishly.

Wally flicked the light on and was astounded at how normal the ambiguous archer's room looked. He didn't know what he expected; maybe a few normal, girl things like cosmetics and jewelry, or magazine cutouts of actors and bands plastering the walls. And he certainly wouldn't put it past Artemis to operate an international drug cartel from her bedroom. But alas, her bed was made neatly and covered in a simple, white comforter. The nightstand and desk were also bare except for several schoolbooks littering the surface of the latter. Only a hairbrush and hand mirror sat on her dresser. The closet, upon further inspection, was filled sparsely with some clothes and an extra school uniform for the nights that she slept at the base. A soft blue covered the walls, which were also bare except for a poster of one of the guys from Glee, (something Megan DVR'd every Tuesday.) Her bedroom further proved Wally's theory that Artemis was born without a personality.

Wally snickered at his own joke and walked farther into the space, his footsteps making the wooden floorboards creak. The redhead's eyes were drawn to the nightstand where there sat a lamp, a clock and what looked like a framed picture. He trudged across the area and grabbed the silver, metallic frame, studying the photo inside.

It was a picture of Artemis and some guy. It looked like it was taken in one of those photo booths at the carnival and was blown up to fit the frame. In the picture, Artemis was perched on the nameless boy's lap, her arms wrapped around his neck. She was smiling broadly, seemingly in the midst of a laugh with her mouth open and teeth bared. The guy, who Wally concurred was blind and deaf, was hugging Artemis around the waist and was kissing her cheek, his eyes squinched shut. He looked stupid. Wally took the picture out of the frame and turned it over, noticing someone had written on the back of it.

_"To my darling, Artemis,"_ it read in squiggly writing. _"Happy six month." _Then it went on with a lame poem that rhymed the word 'blonde' with 'God'. The note ended with, _"Love, Justin xoxoxo"_ and three hearts. Wally snorted at the overall cheesiness of the thing. Artemis sure knew how to pick 'em! He never knew Artemis had a boyfriend; the speedster had always pegged her as the type of girl that scared guys away.

Looking at this couple captured in time clenched in his hand made him feel something. It was probably because he was protective of Artemis since she was his teammate and therefore, felt responsible for her well-being. However much he hated to admit it, they had each others backs.

Wally stared at the photograph a moment longer, pocketed it, then continued rummaging through Artemis' belongings. He got on his hands and knees and started the look through the closet when he heard humming, what sounded like 'Moves like Jagger', from behind him. "Shit," he muttered, praying that Artemis wouldn't see him.

He dropped to the floor and tried to quietly roll into the closet until he came in contact with on of Artemis' shoes, a precarious-looking heel, lying carelessly on the floor. He faltered and rolled to the other side of the closet, causing Artemis' shoes to scatter around noisily. She whipped around and Wally clambered out of the closet and turned to look at her for the first time since she had entered the room. Her body was wrapped in a green towel and her long, blonde hair was wet and tossed over one shoulder.

"Well," Wally said, attempting to be casual. "This is awkward." He tried not to make it too obvious that he was checking her out. Not that he thought she was pretty or anything, but there was an almost naked girl in the room with him, how could he not? She pulled her towel together around her.

"For which one of us?"

"Touché," Wally grinned. Artemis walked to the door and held it open.

"Door, meet Wally, Wally, meet door, before my foot meets your ass."

"We've already been acquainted. Tell Leo I give my regards." Her eyes narrowed at his response and he stood up to match her height.

"Wally, leave! This is a total invasion of privacy! Get out of my room!" Artemis shouted, holding her towel and standing awkwardly, still sopping wet, as she gestured to the door. Suddenly, Wally remembered the picture and pulled it out of his pocket.

"Who's this?" He asked over her screams of 'get out' and 'I'm going to kill you'. Her screams ceased and her eyes widened at the sight of the photo.

"No on," she attempted to reply coolly.

"It's obviously someone." Artemis ignored him and started to yank clothes from a drawer of the dresser. "Oh! Is he your boyfriend, Arty?" He taunted. Artemis blushed and turned her attention back to the redhead.

"No!" She exclaimed. "Now get out! I need to get dressed, you perv!" She began to shove him out the door with her right hand, her left holding her towel tightly around her.

"Well he sure looks like your boyfriend," Wally reasoned, stopping in the middle of the threshold and turning towards the blonde. Her cheeks pinked again and she placed her right hand on her hip, sticking her chin out.

"Just. Get. Out," she said slowly, enunciating every word. Wally smirked and noted that she avoided his statement. "Wally, I swear to God!" She bellowed in reply to his smirk. Wally rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he said as he walked to the door. Artemis looked relieved. "I hope your boyfriend and his boyfriend are very happy together," he added, leaning against the doorframe. She turned from where she was brushing her hair at the desk.

"What?" She questioned, malice dripping off the word.

"I just said that I hope your boyfriend and his boyfriend are very happy together," Wally repeated. Artemis glared.

"What are you trying to say, West?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that if your boyfriend has a thing for archers he must find you and Red Arrow _very _attractive," he said with a malicious smile. Artemis' face dropped.

"You're a real ass, Wally," she said bitterly, slamming the door in his face. Wally smiled as he heard the lock click. He wandered away and upon entering the living room, found Megan with a magazine in her lap and Dick and Kaldur playing Xbox.

"Did you know that Artemis has a boyfriend?" Wally asked, sinking onto the couch and directing his question to Megan, who looked up excitedly.

"Oh my gosh, Wally!" She exclaimed. "You and Artemis are dating?" Wally made a face.

"Ew. No. Ugh," he said disgustedly. "Never in a million years."

"Unfortunately, that was the last time he _had_ a girlfriend," Dick said, without missing a beat. Wally glared at his best friend and Dick chuckled. "You can't say that I'm wrong."

"No, but I can say that you're an asshole."

"Touché," Dick said with a lopsided grin.

"Should we really be discussing a teammate's personal life?" Kaldur questioned as the start menu appeared on the TV screen.

"Well when a teammate chooses to be in it that I suppose it's a necessity," Dick said with a pointed glance at Wally, who only rolled his eyes in response and picked up a controller.

**Author's Note: **_I know that not very much happened in the chapter but it was basically an introduction to the relationship between Artemis and Wally. More will happen in the next chapter, I have something interesting planned __Please review! I want my characters to be in character so if they're not, by all means, tell me and I'll fix it :D_


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **_So thanks for sticking with me for Chapter 2! I know that Chapter 1 was kind of slow and I promise that more will happen in this chapter. Please review! And I should have Chapter 3 up within the next week _

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Young Justice… Or Wally and Artemis would already be together. _

**Artemis**

Artemis hated Gotham Academy. She hated the spoiled, whiny prep school kids and hated how they didn't know anything about the world outside the windows of their mansions and sports cars secured by daddy's paycheck. She hated that they didn't know anything about the actual world… her world. And most of all, she hated the hot, itchy uniforms and uncomfortable shoes required at the prestigious school.

There had, however, been a silver lining. In the course of her days at the Academy-exactly twenty-six so far-Artemis had met Dick Grayson, a friendly and quirky freshman who seemed oddly familiar to her. Nevertheless, Dick was a nice kid and immediately welcomed her and her new kid status to this school where she was obviously unwanted.

After the final bell rang signifying the end of Honors Physics, a class Artemis ranked between rainbows and butterflies in terms of usefulness, the blonde archer picked up her bag and raced out the door in record time. Waiting for her was Dick, sitting on the stone ledge, swinging his legs and casually eating an apple. He lit up when he saw her.

"Hey!" He exclaimed upon her arrival. "How was physics?" She made a face.

"Brutal." Dick grinned and jumped off the ledge, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder.

"So," Dick said, throwing his mostly-uneaten apple into the air and catching it, taking another bite. "You want to come out with a friend and me today?" He asked with his mouth full. "I know you have a thing for redheads," he nudged her with a wink.

"If by redheads you mean Rupert Grint, then yes," she replied, pushing him away from her lightly with a light roll of her eyes.

"Really Artemis, if I knew you had an interest in wizards I would've stuck with the Doctor Fate persona," she heard a familiar voice speak form behind her. Artemis froze. It couldn't be. She turned slowly to meet the grinning face of Wally. The blonde turned back to Dick, then back to Wally, her finger pointing at the two of them and narrowing her eyes. She knew there was something vaguely familiar about Dick, he was Robin! Suddenly, the whole "We'll laugh about this someday," comment Dick had made on her first day of school didn't seem so creepy anymore.

"Too bad even Doctor Fate couldn't make me take an interest in you," Artemis replied with fake sweetness punctuating every word.

"I'll accept that challenge," Wally commented, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets and studying Artemis. She rolled her eyes.

"Wow," Artemis scoffed. "Objectification of women and the use of them as pawns in your own little game," she joked. "I expected that." Wally made a face.

"Don't tell me that you're a feminist," he remarked. Artemis grinned. Before she could reply, Dick did.

"Yeesh you two," he groaned. "Get a room." Artemis shot him a disgusted glance and he smirked. "Ready to go?" He asked the redhead. Wally shrugged in reply.

"I guess so."

"Good," Dick said, taking the last bite of apple and throwing the core as far as he could. "Because Artemis is coming with us." Wally's eyes widened at the same time that the archer's did.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Artemis exclaimed holding her hands up in the universal 'stop' gesture. "I didn't know that 'friend' was him! So thanks, but no thanks."

"You don't know what you're missing," Dick sang. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"I guess I don't." She thought for a moment as Wally launched into a story with a lot of hand gestures. "Shit," she muttered. 'I'll see you guys later," she called over her shoulder. "I forgot my books in my locker!"

"Okay," Wally replied, 'glad' to be away from the girl. "Catch you at training." Artemis waved over her shoulder as she raced back into the towering, brick building, her backpack flapping uncomfortably against her back.

She ran up the marble staircase and onto the second floor, looking at the numbers engraved into each locker as she passed. Her locker, 2247, finally appeared and she stood in front of the gray metal, spinning the old lock to fourteen, to eight then over to twenty-six. The blonde heard a click and she opened her locker, just now realizing how dismal the inside of it was compared to the other girls in her grade who had mirrors, baskets and whiteboards for their friends to write on with erasable markers. Artemis suddenly remembered the Astronomy project that had been assigned to her earlier that day and reasoned that Megan would be out of school by now and the Martian would help her with it. With that thought, she packed her pre-calculus and AP English books into her backpack, slamming her locker, then exited the torture trap of a school the way she had entered.

"Where do you think you're going?" Asked a tall girl with a long, brown ponytail who stepped in front of Artemis, posse in tow. Artemis glanced at the girl in the blue cheerleading uniform curiously.

"Home?" She replied, her response more of a question then a statement.

"Awww!" The brunette cheerleader crooned to her cheerleader friends. "The poor little chink is going back to her third-world country!" Artemis took a step forward and looked the brunette cheerleader right in the eye.

"Don't call me that." The cheerleader flinched and fiddled with the pleats on her short, blue uniform but continued to watch Artemis. The archer wondered if her uniform even covered her ass in the back.

"Yeah, don't say that Arianna. Seriously," a pretty Asian girl with two braids, also wearing a Gotham Academy cheerleading uniform chided the brunette. Artemis glanced at her, but the Asian's face hardened again in response. Arianna ignored the girl's comment.

"And seriously," Artemis said after a pregnant pause. "I need to go. I have trai-stuff to do," she covered for her almost-slip. "So move." The archer started to shoulder her way through the group of pom-pom pushers, when she felt a tug on her ponytail. Artemis turned to find Arianna's hand clasped around the end of her long, blonde ponytail.

"Like selling your body on the street?" Arianna sneered, and then threw her to the ground by her hair. Artemis couldn't afford fighting the petty cheerleader back, as to avoid blowing her cover… or her scholarship. Arianna's cheerleader friends tittered and giggled among themselves. Artemis stood up, angrily spitting hair out of her mouth. "Then again," Arianna continued. "Who would pay for you? I sure as hell wouldn't." The blonde, spewing venom went to shove the brunette when a pair of hands held hers behind her back.

"Were you going to hit my girlfriend?" Artemis heard a deep, male voice growl in her ear. The hands pushed her back to the ground, face first this time, then the owner lumbered over to Arianna, tossing his arm loosely over her shoulder.

The new attacker had dark hair that had been buzz-cut and a space between his front teeth. He was wearing a navy blue and cream, leather football jacket that said 'Gotham Academy, QB,' on the back and the name, 'Blake' embroidered on the right sleeve. 'How cliché," Artemis thought. 'The quarterback and the captain of the cheerleading squad.'

"Why me?" Artemis said up to Arianna after a moment. "Why are you targeting me of all people?" Blake kicked her straight in the face and Artemis felt her mouth explode with pain and blood rush over her teeth.

"Well," Arianna began. "You're an ugly whore from Gotham North who thinks she's tough and can use her cliché, city-slammer, underdog story to win the hearts of her peers. But in reality, your only friend in an awkward freshman and you're just a total bottom-feeder," Arianna said, making Artemis feel worse and worse with each word. Why was she taking all of this so personally? Artemis wasn't usually the type of girl that let things get to her. After a pause, Arianna continued. "You're useless and will go nowhere in life…unless you got a little work done. Maybe a double eyelid surgery; I hear they work wonders," Arianna gestured to her own dainty features before continuing on. "You just make picking on you too easy," she laughed mockingly, twirling a chocolate lock around a finger.

"Like honestly," Blake said. "Why are you here? You're poor for one thing. And look at your… track record. I mean, what kind of slut goes around and sleeps with random guys?" Artemis looked up.

"Where did you hear that?" Arianna and Blake grinned to each other and the cheerleaders giggled.

"Oh, just… something we heard," Arianna smirked. "Nothing of your concern," she added absently, stepping on Artemis again with a heavy sneaker, just for the sake of it. Artemis yelped as Arianna's heel pushed heavily on her stomach. Blake snickered in time with the cheerleaders. Then, they swarmed.

A cheerleader with a short, blonde bob ripped the hair elastic from Artemis' ponytail and another started to attack her with eye shadow, lipstick and blush, everything the archer loved. Come to think of it, Artemis realized she loved them as much as Honors Physics. 'God, I can't take this anymore,' Artemis thought. She took one look at the attacking cheerleader and glanced at Arianna and Blake standing over her, laughing.

Artemis jumped to her feet, knocking the blonde cheerleader into another. Arianna lunged for her, but the heroine launched into the air, flipping over Arianna, tasting blood on her teeth and knowing a bruise was forming on her stomach and face. Artemis landed behind the head cheerleader and the Asian girl gave her a surprised look, and then slyly crept away from the pack, pulling out her cell phone to get picked up.

The cheerleaders went in to grab her, but she evaded them easily, except for an unnaturally tall girl with curly, black hair who grabbed her uniform blazer, holding onto the sleeve until it tore and was hanging by a thread. Bitch. Artemis pushed the girl away easily, but other cheerleaders ran for her. Three of them pinned her down, while two others held her legs. Artemis kicked and tried to fight them, but they continued to hold on, like they did this every day. Arianna's second-in-command, a short girl with straight, red hair, reached for the archer's backpack and unzipped it, pulling out textbook after textbook for all of the advanced classes Artemis was in.

"Aw look!" The redhead sang. "The poor, little slut has a brain!"

"Yeah that's not something you know too much about, huh?" Artemis spat, struggling against her captors, who continued to hold her down. For petite girls, they were actually strong. Without a second thought, Arianna leaned down and slapped Artemis across the face.

"Bitch," Arianna snapped, raising her trendy, pink, Nike-clad foot above the heroine's face. The two stared at each other a moment before Artemis replied.

"Can you get your servant-monkeys off of me?" She asked as Arianna started to lower her foot back to the ground. "I don't have time for your games right now." Arianna glared at Artemis through made-up eyes, and then brought her foot down onto her face. The blonde heroine bit back a scream as Arianna ground her foot into Artemis' façade. The cheerleaders laughed mockingly, then Arianna motioned for them to release her.

"You're a real bitch," Artemis spat at Arianna, who only smirked in response.

"Go on Blake," Arianna sneered to her boyfriend. "Go put this piece of trash where it belongs."

"Trash?" Artemis repeated in a whisper. With zero effort, Blake scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder. She struggled half-heartedly, but knew it was in vain. After walking a moment, Artemis was thrown into the air and she let out a strangled scream as she landed in the dumpster, her hip smacking the lip as she fell in. She heard the giggles of the cheerleaders outside of her filthy resort. Arianna's head poked over the side and she wrinkled her nose.

"Now just stay in there," the head cheerleader smirked. "Think of it as the only way you can contribute to society." Arianna gave Artemis a final domineering stare, then set off for cheer practice, hand-in-hand with Blake. Artemis held back tears as each cheerleader took a turn stepping up to the dumpster, laughing, pointing and giggling for a moment, then continuing on their way, chattering to their friends as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

When the squad was engaged in learning a new half-time routine, Artemis finally deemed it safe to exit the dumpster. She jumped out, staggering a little on her injured hip, grabbed her backpack from the ground and headed off for the telephone booth to transport to the base, wiping a tear off her cheek. The simple gesture bringing a tidal wave a pain with it.

**Wally**

The fastest teenager in the world was officially the most bored teenager in the world. As soon as Wally and Dick had left the elite, prep school, Dick had gotten a call from Bats that the Riddler was up to God-knows-what on the other side of town. A moment later, Dick was gone, promising to hang out as soon as he got back, leaving Wally to his own devices: flipping through TV channels and digging through the kitchen. At the moment, he was sprawled on the couch, half doing AP Chemistry homework and half watching some awful French movie that was all in song, playing on HBO. In the middle of a heart-wrenching scene where the boyfriend comes back from war to find that the pregnant girlfriend he had been forced to leave behind two years ago had married another man, Wally heard the transporter begin to whir. Thinking it was Dick, his ears perked up.

"Recognize: Artemis, B07," the cool, female voice announced.

"Hi, Arty!" Wally called when he heard her enter the room. He heard a sniffle in reply and Artemis shuffled quickly to her room without another word. Wally shrugged to himself and turned his attention back to the movie, which, he hated to admit, he was actually getting in to. Ten minutes later, Wally heard Artemis' bedroom door open and the shower start. After what seemed like hours but in reality was only twenty minutes, Artemis entered the room wearing sweatpants and a blue tee-shirt, dabbing the moisture from her hair with a towel.

"Can I have that picture back?" She asked hostilely, setting the towel on the couch and crossing her arms.

"Sorry 'my darling'," he snickered. "No can do."

"I'm really not in the mood, West." Wally could tell from her voice that she was true to her word, but the speedster continued.

"'You shine like a thousand suns on my soul'," he mocked. Artemis made a face.

"Like you could write a better poem."

"True," Wally agreed. "But I could at least tell you that you're pretty without rhyming 'blonde' and 'God'." Artemis gave him a curious glance.

"Those don't even rhyme…" Wally rolled his eyes.

"Try telling your boyfriend that." Artemis sighed at his reply and sat on the couch, pulling her knees into her chest. Wally noticed that her socks were patterned with characters from The Lion King and they made him smile.

"But I really need that picture back," she said after a moment.

"I don't think I'm going to give it to you," Wally said. "I need it for English class. It really gets the creative juices flowing."

"Wally," Artemis said desperately, sounding like she was going to cry. "Please." Wally studied her face for the first time since she had entered the room and had to bite his tongue to keep him from gasping at her current appearance. Her right cheek had a faint black-and-blue tint to it, something Wally knew, could only be the beginning of a bruise. Her whole top lip was split and ragged and caked in dried blood. She was shifting uncomfortably on the couch like there was something wrong with her hip. Wally knew that she had just battled killer animals a couple of days before so these could very well be injuries from that. But somehow, Wally knew they weren't. They looked fresh.

"Are you okay?" He asked unsurely after a pause.

"I'm fine," the blonde archer snapped, the familiar cold glare returning to her face, quickly to be replaced by her massaging her jaw when she thought Wally had turned away.

"I'm serious, Artemis," Wally said concernedly, sliding closer to her on the couch. She stiffened slightly. "Is everything okay?" She broke his gaze and looked at the movie playing in the television. He watched a tear slide down her bruised check, only to be wiped away a moment later.

"I just had a bad day at school, okay? It's nothing. I'm fine. Let it go." She turned her attention back to the movie, obviously wanting to drop the topic.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Wally asked after a long moment. All the do heard were the sobs of the women on the movie, matching the cries of her baby. Music began to play in the background as Artemis replied.

"I-I don't know." She looked lost. Wally put a hand on her knee. Her body became even more rigid at their proximity.

"Well…" He cut himself off. How should he word this? "Despite our differences," he began. "I have your back," he finished awkwardly. Artemis looked up at him, her gray-blue eyes glassy.

"Thanks, Baywatch," Wally gave her a tiny smile and turned his attention back to the movie, sliding away from her. The two watched the depressing story unravel on the screen in silence fir another moment until Artemis broke it. "Come on, Kid Mouth," she said. "We have training with Black Canary." Artemis stood up and stretched, wincing as she moved her shoulders.

"I'm gonna kick your ass," Wally replied, already on his way to the training center, the blonde heroine hot on his heels. Waiting for them was Black Canary, her hands on her hips. She switched her attention from the speedster to the archer, her eyes widening at the sight of Artemis' many injuries.

"I think you've had enough training for one day," Canary said to her. Artemis began to disagree, but Canary cut her off. "No training today. Dismissed."

"No!" Artemis argued. "I'm fine!" Black Canary ignored her which Wally found highly entertaining and her snickered.

"Team building!" The hero in black exclaimed and looked around the empty arena. "West, take her out," she commanded. Wally quit laughing, mid-snort.

"What?" He asked, unsure if he had heard her correctly. Canary narrowed her eyes.

"You're dismissed too," she said slowly. "No point in training just you when the rest of the team will be back later tonight. Take Ms. Crock here out for the day." Wally made a face to which Black Canary replied, "Final decision."

"As tempting as spending the day with _him_ sounds, I'll pass," Artemis said crossly, crossing her arms over her chest. "And besides, I have an Astronomy project due-."

"Well then you can go out and by the time you get back, M'gann will be home to help you from cheerleading practice," Canary interrupted, mimicking Artemis' stance. Artemis made a face at Canary's statement. Wally watched intently as the two females stared each other down.

"Catfight!" He exclaimed loudly. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Are you ever going to grow up?"

"Oh yeah, because disrespecting your leader's commands is _so_ much more mature."

"And _this_ is why I don't want to spend time with him!" Artemis shouted, gesturing to the redhead and turning to Black Canary.

"Well you're not exactly the Goddess of Congeniality, either!" Wally shouted back at her. Artemis turned to Wally, fury in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Black Canary said calmly, stepping in the middle of the dueling duo. "This is exactly _why_ you two need some serious team building." Artemis glared at Wally and he narrowed his eyes in response.

"I just can't deal with him right now!" She said loudly, stomping away.

"Bitch," Wally muttered. Artemis whipped around, her eyes full of hurt as she stared at him. She wobbled on her heels for a moment, then took off towards her room hotly.

"Cut her some slack," Canary chided gently. "I can tell that she's had a hard day." Wally turned to Canary, tearing his eyes away from where the archer had just exited.

"But she doesn't have to be so negative," Wally said. Black Canary reassuringly pated his shoulder.

"That's what girls do when they're upset. It's easier if you learn that now… Green Arrow had to learn that the hard way. Just leave her alone for a while," she grinned and Wally snorted. "Now go get that Chemistry homework done. It's not healthy for a boy like you to be watching French musical-dramas." Wally blushed.

"I wasn't actually watching it…" he tried to say. Black Canary smirked.

"Right," she laughed. "Now, go. And when M'gann gets back tell her that I'll cook tonight." Wally nodded and bid the den-mother goodbye, speeding back to his unfinished homework, forgotten again by a _Family Guy_ repeat. The redhead tried to pay attention to the show but found his mind wandering to the moment that he called Artemis a bitch. She had reacted differently than usual. Wally usually addressed the archer as such at least eight times a day, and she would always respond in the same way: an eye roll and an 'asshole' shot over her shoulder. Wally started to feel bad. Obviously, Artemis had been having a hard time adjusting to her new school. Against his better judgment of leaving the prickly archer sulk in peace, the speedster's feet led him to Artemis' bedroom door. He knocked and didn't get a reply, so he just entered the room.

Artemis was sitting on her bed, wrapped in a white quilt, tears running down her fair cheeks. She wiped them away quickly when she noticed the boy's entrance.

"Get out," her voice replied hollowly at his entrance. Wally didn't step inside her room, just in case she attacked. Wally knew for a fact that he hadn't had his rabies shot.

"I'm really sorry about what I said to you earlier," Wally said, trying to make the apology sound as sincere as possible. In spite of herself, she smiled a little.

"It's okay… I overreacted," she said. "And… I'm sorry for a being such a bitch." Wally noted, pleased, noted that she was choking over her apology. As he was about to leave, Wally turned back towards her.

"You know," he said. "Canary's offer still stands, even if she's not enforcing it."

"And?" Artemis prompted. Wally grinned mischievously.

"Let's get outta' here." Artemis stared at him like he had three heads. "Come on!" He pleaded. "It'll be good to just get away." Artemis rolled her eyes, a smile forming on her lips.

"You're so incredibly immature, Wall-man."

"Is that a yes?" There was a pause as Artemis thought.

"Sure, let's go. But only because being stuck with you for a day is better than being holed up in a cave," she teased.

**Author's Note: **_Thanks for reading! __ Please review! And I hope this chapter was a little more eventful. Next chapter is a loooooot of Wally/Artemis bonding time/fluff, so if you're looking for that, then stick with me! Thanks for reading and please review! :D_


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**_ Sorry for my lack of A/N until now! I was typing this up really late at night and totally forgot to put one in! Oops! Anyways, I think this chapter was the one I went back and forth about most when I was writing it, so I hope you guys like the end result. __ This was also the chapter that had the most spelling and grammar mistakes in the first draft so thanks so much to my beta and best friend who ended up dealing with it. _

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Young Justice. Or there would be more cute Spitfire moments like in 'Revelation'. (I died. SO CUTE.)_

**Beta: sweetandunknown**

**Wally**

"No," Artemis protested, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her chipped, black nails against her arm. Wally groaned.

"Artemis, it's t he only way to get there!" He bit out. "Do you _see_ a bus stop around this giant, isolated cave?"

"Why can't we just take the transporter?" Artemis asked simply, tapping her foot against the ground.

"I've already explained this," Wally said irritably. "We'd still have to run. It's quicker and easier to just run the whole way. "

"Then it looks like we're not going!" The hotheaded archer started to stomp back to the base to mope pitifully in the comfort of her dwelling. Wally rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand and pulled her into himself, ignoring her squirms and protests.

"Shut up; this is going to be fun," Wally grumbled scooping Artemis into his arms and bolted before she could.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" She screamed, her arms flinging around the speedster's neck and her eyes closing tightly. Wally couldn't help but grin at his teammate. "What the hell are you doing? You're going to fucking kill us! I'm going to fucking kill _you_! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Before her next line of expletives could be released, they had arrived in Gotham City.

"You can let go of me," the redhead smirked, staring down at Artemis and noticing just now that her hair wasn't just blonde-it had streaks of lighter blonde and brown running through it that he hadn't noticed before. Good God… where did that come from? At his comment, Artemis' eyes popped open.

"You can put me down now," she replied in the same tone. The grin was wiped off his face and he lowered her to the ground. "So?" She asked when her feet were planted firmly on solid ground. "Where to?"

"You'll see," Wally said mysteriously, a look of confusion crossing Artemis' bruised face.

"I swear to God, Baywatch," she said. "Some guy in a movie said the exact same thing and the girl ended up getting taken to some secret pot circle." Wally gave her a playful glance.

"No. Nothing like that. You have me pegged as a trouble-maker," He grinned, puffing his chest out. Wally could feel Artemis' eyes on him a moment before he turned. "Plus, they're not as great as they sound," he added, just to be an ass. Artemis rolled her eyes lightly and smiled.

"My oh my, I'm sure Mrs. West would love to hear that." Wally stopped walking.

"Please don't tell her…" He broke off, shuddering at what his mother would do. Oh God… He could picture it now.

"Woah! Kid Flash is admitting that he isn't as great as he thinks he is?" Artemis teased. "This is a historic moment." Wally stuck his tongue out at her, to which she replied, "Real mature, Baywatch." The redhead snickered, and continued to lead Artemis down the block, then stopped her at the corner. "Really?" Artemis questioned after reading the '_North Gotham Cinema_' sign on the front of a red, brick building. "This was the big surprise?" Wally glared as she turned to him.

"Well if you don't like it then we can leave," he snapped and began to turn. Artemis laughed and placed a hand on his arm. Wally realized that her nails weren't black, but just really dark blue. Either way, he didn't peg Artemis as the type of girl to wear crap like that.

"No, it's great," she laughed, leading him towards the entrance. "Come on," she probed, tugging on his wrist when he stopped in his tracks. He grinned mischievously and looked over his shoulder a couple times.

"This way," he hissed, guiding her down an alleyway on the side of the theater.

"What are we-?"

"Shhh!" Wally forced open the back door that read 'employees only' and beckoned Artemis inside.

"What are you doing?" She asked in a hushed whisper, following the speedster inside the building. He turned to her and he smiled, while her blue-gray eyes, bright and impish, studied him.

"Trust me! I've been doing this since I was twelve." There was a pause as Wally looked inside the theater, then checked his watch. "Come on, the movie's starting."

"What movie are we seeing?" Artemis asked in a whisper as she and Wally crept past the open door leading to the lobby and up an iron staircase.

"Whatever's playing in theater seven," he replied nonchalantly. Artemis jogged to catch up to him after jumping off the ladder and he could hear her footsteps behind him as she followed him down a raised hallway. "Here," he said, throwing an arm out to stop her and snickering as she almost fell over it. Wally pushed the heavy door with the number 7 printed in white on its exterior open quietly, peered inside, then beckoned for Artemis to follow.

The two entered the small, upper room and Wally closed the door just as the opening scene started; a boy riding on the hood of a truck, whooping and laughing. Wally put that on his mental list of things to do before he died.

The speedster realized after a moment that the lead actor was also in that God-awful vampire movie Megan had forced the team to sit through for 'team bonding' or something. Halfway through the movie, even Kaldur was begging Megan to turn it off, which she reluctantly did. Wally however, had reassured her that her viewing choices were superb and even if they weren't, she was way too pretty to have anyone besides her teammates insult them. A comment, which, Wally thought was nice, didn't exactly make him best friends with Superboy and he had gotten a rather aggravated smack from Artemis. The archer glanced at Wally and snickered as the word _Abduction_ appeared in thick letters on the screen in front of the duo.

"Hey!" He said, holding his hands up in the universal 'GTFO' gesture. "I don't keep a list of show times on me. Not like we paid anyways."

"Yeah," Artemis smirked, sitting in a chair in the small, unmanned projection room and leaning her elbows on the sill of the open projection window. "That's it." Wally glared and dragged another chair next to the heroine and sat beside her as the actors onscreen played beer pong and toasted to something Wally missed due to the unmistakable slur in their voices. The two continued to watch the awful movie, smothering their snorts and chuckles at what should have been dramatic moments.

"Oh come on!" Artemis exclaimed during a scene where the love interest was clutching her arm in pain. "Her arm hurts? Try arching when your shoulder and elbow are out of their sockets." The speedster laughed at Artemis' outburst.

"Cut her some slack," he chuckled studying the girl on screen, who he had to admit was quite a looker. Was she a model or something? Although, she didn't have eyes quite as pretty as Artemis', he finally decided. _Oh good Lord… Shut up brain. Shut up. Shut up. _"Her idea of pain is probably breaking a nail," he continued, ignoring the internal conflict inside his head.

"Which also fucking hurts when you're arching!" Artemis replied, turning to Wally, who in turn, laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Wow, I never would have pegged Artemis Crock as a complainer," he smiled. Artemis' eyes hardened.

"She's not," the archer replied. "Where I come from, if you take time to complain about something, you're dead." Wally met her eyes for a moment, and then let her comment hang in the air as they both turned back to the movie awkwardly. "For a movie with the word 'ab' in the title and starring Taylor Lautner you'd expect there to be a lot more shirtless scenes," Artemis shout-whispered at the hour mark, turning to Wally with mock-anger on her face.

"You obviously haven't spent enough time with Superboy then," Wally said with a shudder. "I've seen enough abs to last me a lifetime. Plus, this Lautner guy has nothing on Supey." He stared at the screen a moment then added, "I can't stare those things in the face without feeling ashamed." Artemis smirked.

"You got some self-esteem issues there, Baywatch?" Wally rolled his eyes.

"Shut up."

"Whatever you say, Wall-man." The two turned their attention back to a confusing fight on a train that was unfolding before them.

"You say it was a Boston College sweatshirt, Steve?" A deep voice asked from outside the tiny room, startling the pair. "Okay, I'll check the box." The two watched the door as it swung open and a beefy man with a pedophile mustache entered. He scanned the room, and then did a double-take upon noticing Wally and Artemis staring at him, speechless.

"What are you kids doing here?" He questioned, flustered.

"Umm… We were hired to man the projection room," Wally said quickly, nudging Artemis to play along. She nodded enthusiastically and the man's eyes narrowed.

"Good try, but we stream all of our movies from a company in Texas." The pair didn't move. "Get out!" The beefy man yelled, then lowered his voice and grabbed them by the back of their shirts, leading them down a flight of wide, carpeted steps.

"Hey! Let go!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Yeah, man! Ever heard of personal space?" Wally snapped as the guy continued to drag them down the steps and through the lobby. Wally wasn't really that angry about being forced out, it happened to him in a variety of different places-the grocery store, school classes, the playground. You name it; he was probably kicked out from there. No, it wasn't the action of being kicked out; it was the fact that the guy doing the kicking had a creepy-ass mustache that was making Wally's DEFCON level raise to orange.

"You kids aren't welcome back here!" The man yelled, shoving them out the main entrance. Wally stumbled and was dangerously close to running into an elderly woman with her walker trying to enter the theater at .183 miles an hour. The man crossed his arms and waited until Wally and Artemis had stalked away until her deemed it acceptable to re-enter the theater himself.

**Artemis**

"I have a feeling that if we brought Robin we wouldn't have been caught," Artemis commented as she and Wally strolled the streets of Gotham.

"That's because we wouldn't have," Wally replied. "The kid's a ninja." He grinned a moment. "But not as much of one as your ninja boyfriend here," he pointed to himself. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"I told you!" She said exasperatedly. "Amnesia! Or do you have it now and keep forgetting that?" She asked, conking him lightly in the forehead with the heel of her hand, half-expecting the fire engine color on his hair to rub off on her hand.

"Nah, I just like to see your reaction," he grinned, patting her head a couple of times, as one would pet a dog. Artemis shoved his hand away.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't a healthy team dynamic," she laughed and Wally smiled toothily.

"Absolutely not." He paused a moment. "Do you want to grab some ice cream?"

"Are you trying to make up for making me sit through an awful movie and getting us kicked out?"

"Something like that," he replied with a smirk, holding the door to the ice cream shop open for here. The two approached the candy-colored counter and Wally told Artemis to find a table so he could place a 'surprise order'. Artemis dreaded to know what this next surprise would be.

The archer sat at a small, round, metallic table and looked around the retro, 50's-inspired diner, waiting for Wally and his stomach to join her. One girl sitting at a table in the corner, animatedly telling a story to a blonde boy, caught her eye. Artemis realized with a start that it was the Asian girl from Gotham Academy's cheerleading squad. The girl stared at her a moment, then offered a smile. Artemis looked away quickly.

If there was one thing she hated the most, it was two-face bitches. And this cheerleader was both. She was a cheerleader for one thing; she was obviously involved in the attack this afternoon. And now she was just pretending that she and Artemis were best friends? Artemis let out an angry noise which stirred an annoyed look, eye roll and actions of packing up and leaving from the woman and her two kids sitting next to her, even though the kids weren't even half-finished with their ice cream yet. If there weren't kids there, Artemis would've flipped the woman off. Damn kids.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick," Artemis called to Wally as he returned to the table, a massive bowl of ice cream, brownies, hot fudge, chocolate and peanut butter chips and whipped cream in his hands. He set it on the table, along with two spoons as a devilish grin crept over his face. "You better not eat the whole thing or I'll shove your balls up into your throat," she warned, getting another glare from the bitchy woman next to her. Wally's face dropped.

"Fine," he groaned, falling into the chair opposite Artemis' and propping his elbows on the table to pout. Artemis rolled her eyes and headed in the direction of the restroom. As she was exiting, someone ran into her.

"Hey! Watch where you're-Oh… It's you," she murmured after noticing it was the Asian girl. Artemis tried to push past her, but the girl grabbed her arm.

"Hey," she said. "Just listen… Just hear me out," the girl said, sounding almost desperate. "I just wanted to apologize for what happened today. Everyone was so out of line… You didn't deserve any of that." After a pregnant pause she added, "Arianna is a real bitch." Artemis nodded.

"Mmmm…" The inevitable silence that followed was uncomfortable.

"I'm Lacey by the way," the Asian girl said, offering her hand. "Lacey Kim."

"Artemis," Artemis replied, letting Lacey's hand hang there until she finally retracted it.

"I left," Lacey said, looking right at Artemis.

"Excuse me?"

"When they started… doing all of that to you… I just want you to know that I had nothing to do with it… I called my boyfriend to pick me up. I didn't want anything to do with that." Artemis thought back to that afternoon when she vaguely remembered Lacey taking out her phone and setting off in the opposite direction of the attack. All prior feelings about the girl melted away. She was nice enough, and Artemis was glad to know that not all cheerleaders were two-faced bitches.

"Thanks," Artemis said. "I… Umm… Yeah…" Lacey gave her a genuine smile. Artemis started to walk past.

"I know what it's like," Lacey said after her. Artemis turned.

"What?"

"We had some financial troubles so I had to move for my dad's job… switch school districts and all that. So the Academy helped me out, gave me some financial aid. So I was the newest minority getting handouts form the school… Arianna had a field day with that. Let's just say that she loves making fun of us 'chinks'." Lacey gave Artemis a disgusted looked, then continued. "But then I joined the squad and thankfully eight years of gymnastics were on my side. Arianna backed off when she realized that my front handsprings were better then hers." Lacey offered a smile. "But you might have a harder time adjusting." Lacey started to enter the bathroom and Artemis did the impossible, genuinely thanked her.

"Thank you… I just… I'm glad that someone knows what it's like to be the new kid… and be on a scholarship… And… Just… thanks," she called to the pretty Asian, who turned.

"No problem," she smiled. "And anytime you need a friend… I'm always there." Artemis smiled and Lacey followed suit, then entered the bathroom.

**Wally**

The thoughts in Wally's mind when he saw Artemis talking to some girl near the bathrooms were as follows:

Artemis had friends besides Robin at school?

Why did she look so pissed off?

and

The other girl was hot.

Wally bet that the other girl was just one of Artemis' friends from school that she had just met and didn't think anything of the subject as the blonde approached the table.

"This thing is huge," Artemis commented when she sat down, picking up s spoon and trying to decide where it would impale first. Wally nodded with his mouth already full.

"Do you know that guy on _Man vs. Food_?" He asked after swallowing. Artemis nodded, taking a bite of ice cream. "He was here on one of the episodes and got this," he continued, gesturing to the mountain of sugar and chocolate. Artemis laughed.

"No way! Did he finish it?" Wally struggled for an answer after taking a too large bite, choking, then obtaining a brain freeze.

"Nope," he coughed. "He had like, a quarter of it left."

"Obviously he's never met Kid Stomach," Artemis joked, licking whipped cream off her spoon. Wally grinned.

"Of it weren't for you actually wanting some of this, I would've been done ten minutes ago."

"Well thanks for your concern," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and drilling a hole in one of the scoops of ice cream to fish out a piece of brownie. After a moment only punctuated by the sounds of chewing and spoons clinking against the ice cream dish, Wally spoke again.

"So who was that girl you were talking to right now?" He asked, licking a drop of ice cream from his lower lip, an action Artemis always considered sexy. Even though Artemis froze at his comment, spoon in midair.

"What did you hear?" She snarled involuntarily, looking up at him.

"Nothing," he assured her quickly. "I just didn't know if she was your friend… Or…Ugh! Just… Never mind!" Artemis' face softened and she stared at Wally, her blue-gray eyes sparkling. _Good Lord. Did I just say that her eyes 'sparkled'? Man up! But they are gorgeous… I'll use that as a pickup line on Megs the next time I see her. But even Megan's eyes don't compare to Artemis'. They're all sparkly and deep, like the ocean. Oh my God. And I consider myself a guy? Where's Robin? I need to go blow some things up..._

"She's not really a friend," Artemis broke off, taking Wally out of his thoughts. "We could never be friends. Her friends are-," she cut herself off and leaned her elbow on the table, her head on her chin. "She…I just met her." She felt like she was going to say something more, and Wally waited, but she never did. Artemis stared at the ice cream concoction and involuntarily touched the mark on her face. Without thinking, Wally reached across the confectionary treat between them and traced the bruise lining her cheek. Artemis jumped, surprised, but didn't stop him; instead, she placed her hand over his and closed her eyes. Artemis' fingers started to intertwine with his, and he followed suit, like the feeling of the many calluses from arching brushing across his palm.

_WTF AM I DOING? This is __Artemis__. Annoying, prissy, whiny, angry, can-never-be-wrong, argumentative Artemis. It's just because she's the only girl in the vicinity of this place. I don't like her. I'm gagging just thinking about it. Ugh. _

Their fingers stayed interlocked for a moment, until they both realized what the hell was happening and that they were supposed to hate each other. Only when he realized what he was doing did Wally pull his hand away.

"Artemis," he said softly, se looked up, knowing her eyes were cloudy and distant. "Are you doing okay?" She turned her attention to the table, then back up at those eyes.She shook her head so slightly that Wally had trouble deciphering if she actually did or not.

"I'm just…" She cut herself off. "Never mind. It's… stupid." The archer looked down again, taking a half-hearted bite and a sip of water. Wally gripped Artemis' forearms on the table and forced her to look at him.

"It's not stupid, Arty," he said gently. After a moment of silence added, "Tell me what's going on." Artemis deflated; he had broken her down.

"It's not really a big deal," she said, yanking her arms from Wally's grasp. He rolled his eyes at her inability to open up and busied his hands with the spoon and downing more ice cream. "It's just these girls at school…" Wally gave her a questioning look.

"What did they do?" He prompted. Artemis' eyes dropped back to the sundae.

"They cornered me," she mumbled so quietly that Wally could barely hear her. He leaned in and cocked his ear to her voice. "They cornered me and said things to me… And this one bitchy cheerleader beat me up." Wally's eyes widened at her confession and he stared right at her.

"Why didn't you defend yourself?" Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Because I didn't want to blow my cover or my scholarship, genius," she said like it was the easiest thing in the world to comprehend, which it was. "I would've messed those bitches up. But how suspicious would it look if one schoolgirl took down an entire team of gymnasts and the star quarterback of the football team?"

"Right," Wally said, taking a huge bite so he wouldn't say anything else that was completely dumb. "So what were they saying?" Wally asked with his mouth full. Artemis made a face.

"That's cute, Baywatch," she said disgustedly, referring to his deplorable manners. "And nothing really, just," she started fiddling with her napkin. "They called me a 'chink' and said I'm… that I'm an ugly slut… And there's a rumor going around that I'm a prostitute… That one's my favorite. And that bitch with a nose job told me to get some work done; said it would be a smart investment." Wally stared at her in stunned silence. Artemis continued to stare at the ice cream, chewing her lip and holding her spoon limply.

"Hey," he said gently. "Look at me, Blondie." Artemis looked up unsurely at the redhead.

"Yeah?"

"Look, I know I'm not saint to you, but that is seriously crossing the line," he said as Artemis twisted her blonde hair around a finger. "You should tell the school officials or something." Artemis rolled her eyes.

"That won't change anything," she said. "I bet all of their daddies have paid for half the school," Artemis added bitterly.

"Well you need to do something," Wally said, still staring at her, wondering why her golden hair wasn't in its usual ponytail. _She should leave it down more. It makes her look older… And kind of like that girl who played Carly in the new Transformers movie. Oh God. What am I saying? _"I can't be on a mission and have my teammate dying next to me because she's bent out of shape because of bullying. That would make me look bad." Artemis gave him a tiny smile and punched him in the shoulder.

"You're on, you ass," she chuckled. "But thanks for caring so much." _With that ass, there's no chance I wouldn't. Oh my God. I'm getting a head cold… Yeah… That explains why I can't think straight. _

"Hey, you're my teammate. I kind of have to care about you," he said, accidently kicking her foot under the table and causing her to glare. "But promise me that you won't put yourself through that again. Fight back." Artemis shrugged off his request and dug her spoon into a new scoop of ice cream, making sure to gather a large glob of whipped cream on the utensil as well.

"It's not a big deal," she said crossly, in that bull-headed way of hers, licking whipped cream from the corner of her mouth. "I can manage." Wally rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say," he taunted, poking the bruise under her eye. She glared and Wally flashed a big, toothy grin.

"Oh, Baywatch," she sighed, rolling her eyes. And the two continued to eat in a comfortable silence.

**Author's Note: **_I hope you guys liked it! This chapter took me forever to plan out in terms of the conversation and took me almost three drafts to get to where I wanted it to be. Anyways, in other news, I might now have another update until next week because I still need to write Chapter 4 and get it beta'd and everything. I'm sleeping over my beta's house tomorrow night so hopefully I'll be able to finish writing the chapter. Plan on me having it up on Wednesday, latest. Please review! Reviews make my world go round! _


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **_So sorry about the late update! I know I told most of you that this chapter would be up by like… last week. So thanks for sticking with me. School, dance and a social life are getting all up in my grille. I'm going to try and set a weekly update day so for the time being it'll be around Friday. Anyways, please R&R and thanks so much to those who have!_

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Young Justice, or there would be an episode this week and I wouldn't make the fandom wait TWO ENTIRE WEEKS for a new episode…_

**Beta: sweetandunknowns**

**Artemis**

The next Friday after Artemis arrived at Mount Justice from the hell hole she called school, she set herself and her homework up at the kitchen table, only to be plagued by Wally a few moments later. He jumped onto the table, clasping his hands together and waited for her to look up from her textbook. She didn't. And instead asked,

"What do you want, West? I'm busy," while scribbling an equation onto a sheet of paper in dull pencil.

"I don't know," Wally mused. "I'm bored." Artemis raised an eyebrow, but still didn't look up, checking her work carefully, then circling her answer.

"Why don't you do your homework?" She suggested .Wally let out a breath.

"Oh yeah. A three-page essay on the French and Indian War. Real fun." Artemis finally looked up, resting her elbows on the table.

"And this concerns me how…?" There was a pause.

"So much snark in such a little girl," Wally teased, feigning hurt. Artemis grinned.

"Someone has to put you in your place," she said, poking him with her mechanical pencil. He offered her a smile, just as they heard the transporter whir and distribute several of their teammates.

"Next time just politely tell him that we have to leave," they heard Megan's exasperated voice say to who Artemis presumed was Superboy. "You didn't have to be a jerk to him. He was only talking to me." The couple stepped into the kitchen and stared at Artemis and Wally awkwardly, not expecting spectators for their fighting.

"What's the problem, beautiful?" Wally asked, jumping at the chance to flirt with something moving with breasts. The blonde couldn't hide her groan and eye roll at her teammate's antics.

"Oh, give me a break!" Artemis cried before Megan could answer. When everyone turned to her curiously, she blushed and realized she shouldn't have said that out loud. "She's taken, Wally. Get that through that thick head of yours!" Artemis added quickly in an attempt to redeem herself.

"Wow," Wally sneered. "Jealous much?" Artemis could feel herself blushing; it wasn't because she was actually into Kid Mouth, but because he was accusing her of exactly that. The blonde stood up from her chair and faced the redhead, hands on her hips.

"No," she elongated the word. "I just think that it's really pathetic of you to continue flirting with her when she isn't even remotely interested in you, and never was!" Artemis hear door close and knew without looking that Megan and Superboy had extracted themselves from the room to avoid more arguing. Wally rolled his eyes and hopped off the table.

"Well sooooorry that I'm trying to leave myself open in case she and Supey don't work out!" Wally said sharply, like it was the easiest thing in the world, crossing his arms. Artemis rolled her eyes at his pettiness and opened her mouth to reply when he added, "And why do you care so much, anyway?" Artemis blushed and turned away.

"I don't," she snapped. "I just find your constant attempts, key word: attempts, annoying." Wally rolled his eyes.

"Well I know for a fact that I'm not the only one that flirts around," he retorted, uncrossing his arms. Artemis whipped around.

"Excuse me?" She asked her voice full of malice. In one swift motion, the speedster had reached into his wallet and pulled out a folded photograph, unfolding it and trusting it in Artemis' direction.

"Look familiar?" She caught her breath. It was the picture of her and Justin that Wally had stolen from her room. Artemis' eyes narrowed.

"Why do you still have that, you troll?" She exclaimed. It was Wally's turn to blush, which made the archer smile.

"I just… I… uhh…" In his frenzied state, Artemis got an idea. She sauntered closer to him slowly and drove him backwards until his back and the counter made contact. "What are you…?" The speedster looked extremely flustered.

"Shhh…" Artemis cut him off seductively, placing one foot on either side of him and leaning in. "There's no need to talk." She whispered and gently pushed his shoulders down so that his elbows rested on the counter behind him and was looking at Artemis with a mixture of bewilderment and lust. Artemis smirked; this was exactly what she was hoping for.

"What are you doing?" Wally asked softly, obviously pleased to be getting this kind of attention from someone of the opposite sex, even if he was just arguing with her twenty seconds ago. Artemis didn't answer, only traced her hand down Wally's stomach, feeling the outline of his abs under his shirt and snorting at an unmistakable purr from him. His hands went to her hips and he pulled her in closer, practically moaning. Artemis' hand moved to his shoulder.

"This'll teach you to imply I'm easy," she whispered, her lips brushing his ear.

"Mmmm," Wally murmured. Artemis was sure that he didn't comprehend a word she said. Without uttering another one, she twisted out of his grasp and used her foot to kick his out from under him. He yelped as he flew through the air, but stopped himself right before he hit the tiled floor. "Hey!" Wally exclaimed as she brought her hand down on his collarbone and twisted quickly so his back was to her. She grabbed his arm and twisted again, smirking as he hit the floor with a crash and put her foot on his form, still holding his arm for good measure. "You… You… Ugh!" Wally fumed, ripping his arm from the grinning archer's grasp. "I can't believe you!"

"It's not my fault that you flirt with anything that walks," Artemis mused. Wally made a face.

"Ha-ha, real funny. Now help me up. And don't worry," he added, accepting her hand as she pulled him up. "I won't tell Justin that you're madly in love with me." Artemis' face dropped and she wished that he would just quit mentioning the boy.

"There's no need," she said coolly, brushing past him as she tried to exit the kitchen.

"Wait! Artemis!" Wally shouted as she marched away. When she didn't even stop, he grabbed her hand and yanked her back.

"Let me go, Kid Obnoxious!" Artemis snapped. She squirmed and twisted, trying to get him to loosen his hold, but the speedster wouldn't budge.

"Is it something I said?" He asked with a sad, puppy dog-eyed expression on his face. His grip on her wrist loosened and Artemis took advantage of the opportunity, yanking from his grip before continuing her trek out of the kitchen. "No! Ar. Te. Mis!" Wally yelled, enunciating every syllable of her name and lunging for her. HE grabbed both of her wrists and pushed her gently against the counter. She wiggled until she fell into the indenting lip where the two sides of the counter met to form a corner. She tried struggling against him, but he continued to hold her wrists and leaned his hips against hers so she couldn't move. Her struggling ceased when she realized that it wouldn't change anything. "Now, tell me what I did that pissed you off so much," Wally commanded as he released Artemis' wrists and instead, rested his hands on the countertop on either side of her. Artemis shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Besides breathing?" Wally groaned at her answer.

"Did something happen at school?" Artemis stared at him and rolled her eyes.

"I am not playing this game of hot-and-cold with you," she sneered. Wally rolled his eyes.

"Yes you are. Unless you want to stay here forever. I can wait all day," Wally taunted, checking an imaginary watch. "For someone with super-speed, I'm incredibly patient."

"Then get comfortable, because I'm not telling you," Artemis smirked.

"What? You don't trust me?" Wally challenged, leaning in closer. "I thought teammates were supposed to trust one another." Artemis let out a breath. "Was it because I brought up your boyfriend?" Artemis froze, her eyes locked on the floor and her hands resting beside Wally's.

"No," she said quickly, then felt herself flush and looked into the eyes of her teammate. His hand slipped and made her heart skip a beat. _Good Lord… Why am I so excited? Calm down, Artemis. This is Wally. He needs to go away and stop touching me. Ugh. I wonder if his hands are bigger then mine… What am I saying? I don't care about the size of his hands… Well, you know what they say, the bigger the hands the bigger the- Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Shut up, shut up, shut up! _

"So it is Justin," he said and Artemis didn't agree or disagree, leaving Wally to make his own assumptions. "What? Trouble in paradise?"

"It wasn't really paradise," Artemis mumbled. Wally leaned in closer to hear her words. Artemis noticed that he smelled like clean laundry and cake batter, a smell she had always loved.

"Relationship troubles?" Wally asked. "I get it, they suck."

"You got dumped?" Artemis inquired sarcastically. "How surprising!" There was a moment of silence as Wally thought.

"Ummm… Yeah, I did," he finally said, biting hip lip, a habit Artemis had always found sexy, even when done by someone as annoying as Wally. _Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did I just call him sexy? God no. What is the world coming to? He's definitely not sexy. Maybe cute and that might be pushing it. No, it's not. He's definitely a good-looking guy. But when he opens his mouth he ruins it. Oh my God. What am I saying? Stop talking. Be quiet, Artemis._

"What was her name?" Artemis asked, her eyes rising to his and she swore she could feel the heat from them entering her soul. _Oh my God. Did I just say that his eyes were 'entering my soul'? That sounds like a sentence from a bad romance novel that Megan would read… Good Lord. Get a grip Artemis. His eyes are nice though… Not like any I've ever seen before. Kind of warm and inviting... Like cinnamon cake! Oh my god. Artemis. What the hell are you saying? Get a grip._

"Nadia," he answered distantly, the chuckled almost absently and continued. "We were together for a little over a year when she dumped me for another guy. I was a mess for a week." Artemis quickly drew the parallel from Wally's breakup to her own. "I loved her… Or at least I thought I did… We were young, and pretty stupid. Anyways, it just… it's not fair, you know?"

"Yeah," Artemis answered immediately. "I'm sorry Baywatch," she said, shocked at her sincerity. Wally's face echoed the sentiment and looked pleasantly surprised.

"Wow… Ummm… Thanks," he replied, giving her a small smile. They stared at each other and Artemis thought the moment seemed frozen. "Your turn," Wally said, breaking the silence.

"Hm?"

"It's your turn," Wally repeated. "Tell me about Mr. Perfect, Justin." Artemis noted with a smirk that Wally sounded slightly resentful.

"Whoa. Jealous much?" She grinned. Wally gave her a sour look and his expression hardened.

"Shut up and tell me about 'Jus-Jus'," Wally taunted, his hand slipping on the counter (again) and smacking into Artemis'.

"'Jus-Jus'?" She asked mockingly. "That's the best you could come up with? Do I seem like the kind of girl who would call anyone 'Jus-Jus', 'Wall-Wall'?"

"Stop trying to change the subject or I'll be forced to believe you made up 'Justin' to fill the void in your barren love life," Wally threatened menacingly. Artemis glared, at him with silent defiance, until finally deciding that she wouldn't be able to escape Wally's clutches unless she told her story. She sighed and began.

"Okay… Well, his name is Justin, which you already know because you're a snoop. We met in school… where we were in almost every class together. We started hanging out all the time… so we ended up getting together… It just happened," Artemis broke off, smiling at several memories surfaced of her ex. boyfriend. She looked up at Wally and found him holding back a smirk. "What?" She asked.

"You're just being a real girl right now," he chuckled. Artemis gave him a sour look.

"Ha-ha and that's something you don't understand, right?" The grin fell off of Wally's face.

"Touché." The duo stared at each other a moment, and just then, Artemis realized that he was leaning on her and her fingers were touching his.

"Will you get off of me?" She asked crossly, trying to push Wally away from her.

"Not until you finish the story," Wally said, annoyingly pushing her harder into the counter. Artemis groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Just get off of me."

"No."

"Wally, move."

"No."  
>"Wally!"<p>

"Tell me about Justin!"

"I did!"

"Not about your breakup!" Wally said, holding her, motionless, against the counter. Artemis froze. _Should I tell him? No. He'd just make fun of me. _

"It's none of your business!"

"Hey!" Wally exclaimed. "I told you about mine!"

"Just get off of me!"

"Tell me!"

"No!"

"Then I'm not moving."

"Fine! You want to know what happened? On our sixth-month anniversary, I found out he was cheating on me… with a guy! Are you happy?" The accompanying silence was tense as hell.

"So he's… gay?" Wally inquired tentatively. Artemis nodded.

"I guess he decided he played for the other team, but didn't feel the need to fill me in on that or anything. Idiot… Thought dating someone else would make the situation better," Artemis admitted, whilst fiddling with her feet, but kept her eyes locked on Wally's.

"When did you guys break up?" Wally asked, his pointer finger tapping restlessly against the granite. Artemis thought a moment.

"A month ago."

"So that Red Arrow comment might have struck a nerve?" He asked sheepishly. Artemis nodded, her eyes closed.

"Yeah… Thanks for that." She opened her eyes to see Wally's guilty face in front of her own. His arms found their way around her, tentatively at first, then ensconced her with a gently hug around her entire form, her arms included. Artemis found the action itself awkward, but she was touched by the gesture and decided to help the speedster out.

Her arms, pinned to her sides by Wally's, circled his waist and she breathed in his scent of laundry and cake batter, now noticing a hint of-was that lemongrass?-mixed in as well. It was a combination that the archer didn't think should have worked, but did, and she found the smell deliciously intoxicating; alluring almost. _Oh God. I'm reading way too into this. Good Lord. Let me go. But he cares… So? It's… Wally. Arrogant, annoying __Wally__. But he smells good… STOP BEING SUCH A GIRL._ Despite her internal conflict, Artemis felt safe while she was enveloped in Wally's arms. All too soon, the speedster pulled away and leaned beside her on the counter, his head resting casually on the overhead cupboards. Artemis was pleased to note that his ears were bright red as she mimicked Wally's position.

"Is that what hormonal teenage boys do nowadays?" She teased, glancing sideways at the boy, who rolled his eyes.

"I seem to recall s certain teenage girl whole-heartedly responding," Wally retorted with a grin. Artemis opened her mouth to reply, when someone did for her.

"I hope I'm not… interrupting anything," Dick snickered, entering the kitchen and smirking at the duo propped against the counter, so close that their shoulders were almost touching. Artemis could feel herself blushing and hoped it wasn't noticeable. She hated being caught with members of the opposite sex and having others awkwardly making it seem like they were a hot-and-heavy item.

"Absolutely not," Artemis coughed. "Kid Flash here was just telling me a gripping story of how his first serious relationship went horribly wrong."

"Funny," Dick said with a glance at Wally. "Kid Flash never me that." He feigned surprise and Wally snorted.

"I didn't think you'd be able to relate since you've never been in a relationship before," he said with a typical Wally-snarky-grin.

"Well this has been fun," Artemis interrupted. "But, I'm not really in the mood to spend any more time in the company of a prepubescent computer hacker and," she paused while looking Wally up and down. "_That_," she decreed, smirking inwardly. The two boys grinned to each other and Artemis rolled her eyes. "I have homework to do. Later!" She said, grabbing a pear from the porcelain fruit bowl on her exit from the kitchen.

"I'm allergic to those, you know!" Dick called to her back, and she only snorted in response, taking a bite of the fruit.

**Wally**

"Here, have three of 'em, then," Wally challenged as he plucked several pears from the fruit bowl and rolled them across the counter towards Dick. He cringed while making a face and plucked a peach up instead.

"Kill me and you won't have any friends left." The boy bit into his peach and peered at Wally over the lenses of his sunglasses. "You're just bitter over the fact that I walked in on you putting the moves on Artemis." Wally choked on the pear he had begun to eat following Dick's rejection of the fruit. He coughed and swallowed ungracefully.

"_Moves?_ Oh yeah, practically holding a girl captive until she tells you all the ugly details about her last breakup. That's the way to her heart," he replied sarcastically, nudging one of the pears closer to Dick. The younger boy ignored the allergen and pulled himself onto the countertop with a grin.

"So… you admit to holding her, then?" Wally's could feel his neck reddening, and the speedster fumbled with a reply. Dick's familiar laugh filled the nearly-empty cave and Wally considered shoving a pear down his throat. If his allergies didn't finish him first, the lack of oxygen would.

"D-dude!"

"When I said to get a room, I didn't mean our kitchen, Wall-man!"

"It's not like that!" Wally groaned as Dick's giggles ceased to stop. "I mean, it's Artemis." The Boy Wonder's amusement finally died down and his breathing became even. "Yes, and you're an idiot. Are we really stating the obvious?" Dick sighed.

"But it's Artemis!"

"Again with the observations."

"I mean- I- Dude! We hate each other!"

"You didn't seem to hate cuddling up to her against the counter a few minutes ago."

"Oh, what do you even know about relationships? The most game with the ladies you have is _Animal Crossing_!"

Dick smirked. "I didn't know you and Artemis had a relationship."

"We don't!" Wally sighed, rubbing his temple, frustrated. "I—," Wally's argument was interrupted by Dick's cell phone vibrating. He flipped open the phone, scanned the message and slid from the counter.

"I'd love to continue—and win—this enthralling debate, but I've got a study date with Zee to make before training tonight."

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black," Wally chided.

Dick turned from the exit of the kitchen. "Yes; but unlike you, I'm not blatantly lying to myself." And with that, the boy disappeared from the room.

Wally frowned and leaned on top of the counter as a discarded pear rolled into his elbow lightly.

**Author's Note: **_I know that not much happened; it was kind of a filler chapter to set up for Chapter 5 (fluff galore). So just stick with me for Chapter 5, which I promise will be magical. Anyways, please R&R and you'll be my best friend. :D For future reference: I have a song fic, a oneshot and another multi-chapter fic in the works all about our favorite YJ couple. But if you're looking for cute Spitfire stories, check out _**sweetandunknown**_ and keep an eye out for a multi-chapter from _**loveHP47**._ Both are amazing authors and would love to get reviews from awesome fans like you guys :D _


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **_Hey guys! I know I was all '_I'm going to update every Friday from now on!'_ But it's been a month since I last posted that, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart for my lack of follow through. Life has just been getting all up in my grill, you know, school, dance, a social life, you guys all get it. Also, I've been participating in NaNoWriMo this month so I haven't really had any time to write anything besides my piece for that. However, I promise that on December 2__nd__ I'll have Chapter 5 up, and from then on I'll try and stick with the update every week schedule until this fic is finished. _

_Now here comes the promotional part of my belated excuse for Chapter 5. My lovely friend Natalie, or better known as **sweetandunknown** and also known as my fantastic beta, has published three Spitfire stories that, in my opinion, are fantastic. Please check her out if you're really in the mood for some glorious fluff. _

_Also, my other fantastically beautifully writing best friend Lexi, also known as **loveHP47**, has uploaded her fic recently. I think it was a one-shot, but this girl is so damn creative that she's also got a multi-chapter in the works that I've heard most of the plotline for. If you're looking for beautifully-written angst mixed with the glorious Spitfire couple we all love, please check her out. Both of them love reviews, so be all those awesome readers I know you are. :D_

_Also, it wouldn't hurt to mention my personal favorite authors: **jncera, Black Licorice Addict, MidnightRoulette, Cloaks and Daggers** and** Satellites on Parade. **They're just fantastic authors. No criticism. _

_So in closing, I apologize for my lack of publishing. But, I will have Chapter 5 up by December 2nd and hopefully have this fic in its entirety up by January 6th. And for future reference, the plot bunnies have just been coming to haunt me so I have another multi-chapter, a song fic, and four one-shots swirling around in my head. I plan to write all of them so just wait up for them because they should be coming in the near future. _

_Okay! Thanks for sticking with me for so long! I'll be back on December 2nd, but in the meantime, please read and review, tell your friends, you know. Reviews make my world go round! _

_Until December 2nd then._

_Hobey ho, let's go! _


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **_Thanks for being so patient guys! I'm not going to make up a bunch of excuses about why I didn't have this chapter up by December 2__nd__ because, honestly, I was just too lazy to write it. __ This chapter was officially the most worked-on chapter and I went back and forth so many freaking times it would be detrimental to my health if I dared counting them. I would like to thank my beta, _**sweetandunknown**_, for dealing with me and my attempts at using proper grammar. And umm, yeah, that's it for now. Appreciate this. I worked really hard. _

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Young Justice. Or I wouldn't make the fandom wait until January for new episodes._

**Beta: _sweetandunknown_**

_Hobey ho, let's go! _

**Wally**

As the sun began to set, Wally settled himself on the couch and powered up the Xbox, waiting for Dick to return; which he did moments later, with a big, loopy grin on his face. Wally snorted.

"Look at the little thirteen-year old, coming home from his play date!" He mocked. Dick rolled his eyes and plopped beside him on the cushions.

"It's still one more play date than you've ever had," the younger boy retorted. Wally's face dropped.

"Save the snarky comments for later," the redhead yawned, pretending Dick's creative comeback didn't annoy him or deserve a response. "It's only 5 o'clock!" Dick rolled his eyes again and opened his mouth to reply, just as the resident bird of prey entered the room.

"Don't get comfortable," Black Canary said briskly as she crossed her arms and stared the two boys down, like she thought they were going to blow up the living room using only some mustard and a toothpick. It had only happened once, so Wally didn't know why Canary continued to talk to them like it would happen again, but he digressed. "Training?" She reminded them in response to their curious stares.

"No!" The two boys objected.

"I was really looking forward to kicking back and relaxing," Wally complained. Black Canary rolled her eyes.

"Oh, quit your whining," she snapped, smiling at the boys' lethargy. "Only a quick session. M'gann has a game in an hour anyway."

"But… I can't move!" Wally protested falsely in an attempt to get out of training. Canary looked worried.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Oh, rejection will do that to a guy," Dick snickered, perching himself on the arm of the couch.

"_Dude_!" Wally was tempted to push him off. "I wasn't rejected! I don't even like her!" Even as he said it, Wally could feel his neck reddening.

"Okay," Dick sang in a clear and pleasant tone. "Whatever you say." Black Canary shook her head at the boys' antics, then took her leave and headed towards the training arena after calling the rest of the team.

"I'm not kidding! It's… _Artemis_!"

"And you're still in denial." Wally made an angry noise at Dick's reply and threw himself on the couch, a pillow over his face.

"Is it just me, or is the Wall-man freakier than usual today?" Wally heard a feminine voice ask. He froze.

"It's come to the point where I find myself immune to his behavior," Dick shuddered. "I'm spending too much time with that kid."

"This coming from the boy who dissects the English language," Artemis countered.

"You can continue to sect the lexicon as much your heart desires. Besides, my wordplay is better than having lame catchphrase."

"'Hello, Megan'?" Artemis asked tentatively. Wally could practically hear Dick smirk.

"I was thinking something more along the lines of, 'I'm almost out of arrows'." There was a pause, then Dick's voice broke the serenity created by the pillow once more. "Whoa, Artemis you don't want to run out of arrows before we even start combat trainging!" Wally sat up excitedly, only to find that the Boy Wonder had long disappeared and Artemis was brandishing an arrow threateningly.

"I'm going to slay that kid within an inch of his life," Artemis decreed. Wally let out a mix of a throaty chuckle and a snort, and then had a coughing fit. Artemis gave him a weird look and fought back a smirk. "Come on, Kid Freak. M'gann is going to get on our case if we make her late to her game."

"I don't know," Wally replied with a cynical grin. "An angry cheerleader doesn't sound so scary to me."

"And you wonder why you're single," Artemis retorted without missing a beat. Wally's grin soured as he shouldered the blonde in the direction of the training arena, an unspoken retort bubbling in his throat.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Wally was sprawled on the couch after his shower and grueling training session, remote in hand, waiting for Dick to clean himself up so that they could finally start their _Modern Warfare_ marathon, when Artemis waltzed through the living room to the kitchen.

"What in God's name are you watching?" She questioned skeptically, pouring herself a glass of iced tea. Wally knew it was her favorite. He sat up in awe.

"You've never seen _Keeping up with the Kardashians_?" He exclaimed wildly. Wally couldn't picture a world without the Kardashian sisters. Artemis' brow furrowed.

"I don't know." There was a pause. "Is she that bitch that spent ten million dollars on a wedding and was only married for seventy-five days?"

"Seventy-two," Wally corrected, turning back to face Kim and her first-world problems.

"Do you want to watch an actual show?" Artemis asked suddenly from behind him. Before Wally could answer, the blonde had sauntered over to his side of the couch, set her glass on the side table and grabbed the remote from his apathetic hand. Artemis sat down, her lower back a hairs-length away from Wally's stomach as he lay on his side.

He found himself watching her intently. He liked the way her blonde hair tumbled over her back, a few almost-dry strands coming loose from her ponytail, shining golden in the dim light of the cave. Wally watched with fascination as she pressed buttons on the remote to the television, her lashes fluttering gracefully against her cheeks.

His eyes traveled down her body, pausing on her small, slender fingers and admiring the way they seemed to dance over the technology in her gracefully hands, callused and worn from her bow. Wally picked out the tiny cut on her palm form when she had nicked herself with an arrow in a hurried frenzy during a recent mission. Those hands connected to her strong yet elegant arms and her toned shoulders. Wally watched the muscles in her back stir beneath her olive skin as she moved further onto the couch, now pressed against Wally's stomach. He curled around her to give her more space.

Wally watched Artemis' profile as she shook her head to move her hair out of her eyes, and then pressed the center button on the remote.

"Here," she said. Even the sound of her voice was seducing him. The simple word singsonged and rippled off of her tongue making Wally's skin explode in shivers. The good kind of shivers. Wait. Stop. Fast-forward. Play.

This was _Artemis_! He could not be feeling this way about _Artemis_!

But even so, he couldn't help but observe the blonde archer as her spidery fingers wove their way through her bright hair, emerald hair tie between her perfect teeth as she pulled her hair into a fresh ponytail, then turned the sound of the show back on. Wally swallowed and tore his gaze from her.

"What is this?" He tried to sound doubtful, but his voice cracked. Artemis snorted.

"Real cute, Wall-man," she teased. "And this is _Degrassi_," she added with a fanfare. Wally's face contorted.

"What the hell is this?" Artemis put a hand over his mouth so she could hear the dialogue. Her ponytail brushed Wally's cheek and his eyes grew wide, struggling to keep his cool, he opted to watch the scene instead of, rather, inserting his foot into his mouth—an occurrence Wally was oddly familiar with.

A blonde guy behind the wheel of an expensive sports car took a cutting corner turn and promptly hit an elderly jogger. The boy, now in hysterics, left his companion to fend for himself with the injured jogger and the cops. Jerk.

Artemis' hand softened on his mouth and she stood up from the couch.

"Where're you going?" Wally asked, trying not to sound discouraged.

"I've already seen this episode. Besides, I have homework, including an essay about something or other in English, to finish," Artemis called absently over her shoulder. And Wally was again left in the silence of the cave, only punctuated by hopeless yelling from the boy on the screen.

"Whoa, dude. Is there anything going on up there?" Dick's snide comment awoke Wally from the blissful peace. He wiped the loopy smile that he hadn't realized was there immediately and sat up on the couch, shooting his best friend a sour glare.

"You happen to be talking to a three time ACADEC champion. I'm kind of like the Jesse St. James of education," Wally retorted proudly, reaching for two controllers and tossing one to Dick. But the boy only let the device land on the couch beside him, and made no effort to hold it

"…Dude. Did you just make a _Glee_ reference?"

"Megan records it every Tuesday! _Every_. _Tuesday_." Wally wrinkled his nose. "Wait, how did you know that was _Glee_-related?"

"Just start the game," Dick muttered darkly, adjusting the controller in his hands.

After losing four times, winning once and cursing a great amount, Megan, Conner and Kaldur entered the room. The Martian was dressed in her Happy Harbor cheerleading uniform, red hair tied back with a yellow ribbon and holding pom-poms loosely in her hands.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" M'gann asked sweetly, twirling a pom-pom in the air enthusiastically.

"Nah," Wally declined, mashing buttons with his thumbs. "Thanks anyway, Megs, but Rob and I have plans." As if in response to his statement, Dick threw a grenade and caused Wally's avatar to erupt in flames. He made a frustrated sound as the 'match lost' screen flashed.

"I believe it is important to support one's teammates," Kaldur announced as Connor anxiously shuffled his feet and Megan restlessly checked the time.

"Go get Artemis then," Dick said as he started a new round. "We're busy."

"Artemis doesn't do football games!" They all heard the blonde heroine shout from her bedroom where she was homework-bound.

"Okay, then. Have fun! We'll be back later!" Megan sang, giving a little twirl and spinning out the door, Connor and Kaldur hot on her heels. The transporter whirred, and the boys were left alone.

Just as Wally sent a slew of oncoming soldiers to their inevitable doom, he heard a beep from his companion's PDA. Dick looked from his now-visible contact device, to the screen where the game still raged, to the controller in his hand. Then looked back at the PDA, to the TV, to the PDA, to the controller, then to Wally.

"And I was on a kill streak too," Dick grumbled irritably as he pulled himself off of the couch. "Of all the times for Catwoman to make trouble," he sighed exasperatedly as he exited the room, calling a quick goodbye to Wally as the redhead exploded on the screen and returned the farewell.

"Artemis!" Wally shouted, leaning back against the couch pitifully as the start-up screen blinked into view. "Robin left me, and now I'm bored and have nothing to do, and no one loves me!" Wally complained in a yell, staring at the ceiling. He felt the cushions rustle and looked over to find Artemis sitting in the same position as he: feet up on the coffee table (Red Tornado would have a fit), leaning back against the cushions, face turned upwards.

"Understandable. If I were Bird Boy, I'd have bailed a while back," she grinned. "So what do you want me to do about it?" She asked, absent-mindedly thumbing a button on Dick's abandoned controller. "Unsurprisingly, homework isn't holding my attention."

"And I can't play _Modern Warfare_ alone," Wally sighed, then brightened. "Why don't you play with me?" He asked expectantly. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"As fun as killing you with an arsenal of digital weapons sounds, it wouldn't even be a competition." Wally raised an eyebrow at her cocky statement.

"And what makes you think that?" He asked, turning his head to look at her. She sat up and faced him.

"Wally," Artemis said like he was an idiot, which she believed he was. "I'm an archer. I shoot people from far distances in real life." Wally's face fell and he turned back towards the television.

"I guess it is pointless," he admitted after a moment of thought.

"Whoa!" Artemis feigned surprise. "Wally West actually admitting he's wrong? This is one for the history books." Wally narrowed his eyes sourly. "So what do you want to do?" Artemis asked in reply with a smirk.

"I suppose sitting her and wallowing in bored misery isn't an option?" Wally questioned, just for the sake of clarification. Artemis snorted.

"That'll be entertaining for all of forty-five seconds," she answered. Wally sighed.

"How about," he began, getting nervous all of a sudden, "We hit up Blockbuster? You know, since North Gotham Cinemas won't be allowing us on their premises anytime soon." He glanced at Artemis expectantly. She bit her lip.

"Whatever," she said finally. "But I'm picking which one we get," the blonde added, standing up from the couch, closely followed by Wally. His face dropped at her statement.

"Hey!" He exclaimed. "It was my idea, so it's my choice!" Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Come on, be a gentleman… for _once_."

**Artemis**

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Artemis groaned as soon as she threw her clenched fist forward.

"Paper covers rock, I win!" Wally declared. Artemis cursed under her breath.

"I knew I should've done scissors," she muttered, watching the redhead's back turn towards the aisles of DVD's sprawled in front of them. "Why don't we just rent the _Harry Potter_ series and watch all of them in one night in one spectacular marathon?" Artemis asked hopefully, following Wally as he perused. His grin vanished, like the Boy Wizard himself with the use of his invisibility cloak.

"I hate that series." Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Oh right, magic, yeah," she sighed. "Just pick something good. Oh, look! _Lord of the Rings_!" She persuaded, picking up the first DVD of the series and waving it in Wally's face. He swatted it away and ignored the archer.

"Oh, look! _Titanic_! The most _romantic_ movie to date!" Wally said dramatically, picking up the case and turning it around to examine the back's description. Artemis groaned.

"Come on, Wally! That movie sucks! Just get _Lord of the Rings_!"

"Or how about _Gone With the Wind_? Four hours of cinematic brilliance!"

"If you don't pick up _The Two Towers_ right now I will club you with my bow," Artemis warned, pushing Wally along and grabbing the DVD from his hand, setting it back on the shelf.

"Empty threat!" Wally sang. "You wouldn't lay a hand on this," he added, doing an odd little dance in the middle of the store. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"If you do that again I'll hit you ten times harder," she threatened, and Wally rolled his eyes.

"I know you want this," he said cockily, running a hand superficially through his hair. "_You _know you want this." All of a sudden, embarrassment coursed through the archer's veins. It was…_Wally_. Nothing more than that had to be said. So why was she feeling this way? She chose to ignore her inner thoughts.

"Well—um—whatever—uh—whatever helps you sleep at night, Wall-man," she stuttered, cursing the way she stumbled over her words. Her eyes dropped to the floor and she fiddled with the corner of a DVD case on the rack beside her, trying not to make their situation more awkward than the others they found themselves in typically were. She looked up after a moment, and found Wally was gone. "Kid Immature?" She called. In response, she was pleased to note to her annoying term of endearment and everything, Wally's head popped over the top of the shelf from the next aisle.

"Okay, ready to go?" He asked. Artemis nodded and started to walk towards him.

"What movie did you pick?" She asked, tightening her ponytail and trying to squeeze past a large man who was taking up most of the current aisle. Wally only grinned and patted his shirt, where he had shoved the DVD up.

"You'll find out," he said mysteriously and headed for the register. Artemis went to follow, but Wally held out a hand to block her. "No, no, no," he smirked. "You can wait outside while I pay for this. I can't have you ruining my surprise."

"Wally, I hate surprises!" Artemis complained exasperatedly as he shoved her through the door. She pouted on the bench outside the store until Wally appeared, holding a white, blue, and yellow plastic bag as proof of his purchase. Artemis sent a killer death glare Wally's way and said simply, "You better not have picked a crappy movie." Wally's face broke out in a large smile.

"Mov_ies_," he corrected, and Artemis' face dropped.

"Dear God, more than one chance to torture me."

"I think you'll like it," he declared with a glint crossing his green eyes.

As soon as the duo returned to the cave, they went to work at setting up their all-night movie marathon, including bowl after bowl of freshly popped popcorn smothered in buttery deliciousness, courtesy of Artemis' patience and the cave's high-powered microwave. Wally had kept himself busy with baking trays of chocolate chip cookies, not made from scratch mind you, but the break-n-bake kind Megan kept around the house specifically for times like these, as well as gathering all of the chips in all of the cabinets and clearing out all of the juice boxes from the fridge. In short, Wally pretty much had a field day with creating movie snacks, and when the two sat down on the couch at seven o'clock amid pillows and cushions and ensconced in old blankets gathered from the back of closets, they had enough food to feed an army.

"Okay, Kid Mystery, start the film," Artemis said, gritting her teeth and pulling her legs onto the couch, grabbing a huge, plastic bowl of warm popcorn and setting it between her and Wally. The redhead struggled to move from their comfortable confines, but finally managed to grab the remote and press the 'play' button, then sat back, a content expression on his face. Artemis let out a groan as soon as the opening credits announced the title of the movie.

"_The Notebook_? Really? What is it with you and picking bad movies?" Artemis grumbled, settling in for 123 minutes of pain and suffering.

"What?" Wally replied innocently, stuffing a handful of popcorn in his mouth. "I thought that you being a girl and all, despite the fact that I question the truth of that statement every day, would have a connection with this movie." Artemis rolled her eyes at Wally's corny reply.

"Well that really tugs on my heartstrings," she began. "But do you think I'm the type of girl who sits down to watch stupid chick-flicks and ball my eyes out?" Wally rolled his eyes.

"I didn't know you had the ability to cry. So now you understand my reasoning behind choosing this movie." Artemis smacked him in the bicep over the bowl of popcorn and reached for a cookie, still hot from the oven as the movie began.

**Wally**

"Are you crying?" Artemis accused as soon as the end credits began to roll. Wally wiped the single tear—he wouldn't even call it a tear—from his face.

"No," he sniffed. "I have allergies." _Great excuse, genius. _Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"What are you allergic to?"

"To sadness, okay?" He finally blurted out. "This movie gets me every time." He kicked off one of the blankets enveloping his body and saved the cookie tray he was slowly consuming snacks off of before it fell. The speedster glanced at his arching counterpart, who was lounging on the couch, expressionless. "What, you don't think it's sad?"

"Not really," she shrugged. Wally was offended. _Damn. _

"Not even a little?"

"Nope," she replied, popping the 'p' in the word.

"You don't even find it a little bit upsetting that these two people find each other after all these years, have a long happy marriage, and die in each other's arms?"

"No!" Artemis glared and flipped onto her stomach, staring the redhead down. "Look, Wally," she began, propping her head up on her hand. "This may sound a little pessimistic, but all of that stuff in the movie? I don't believe in any of that… none of it actually happens." Wally attempted to stare her down. He lost.

"Well that _is_ a little pessimistic," he commented. "And come on, you don't believe in true love? That's impossible."

"_You_ do?" Artemis countered. "People don't actually end up happy. You're born, you get married, have kids, and you die. End of story."

"You just said it yourself!" Wally said accusingly. "The whole marriage part?" He reminded. "That's the part where you fall in love." Artemis rolled his eyes at his obvious stupidity.

"Who says you have to be 'in love' in order to get married? Do you know how many marriages end in divorce? I.e.: _my_ parents." Artemis retorted. Wally opened and closed his mouth for a moment, then knowing he looked like an idiot, decided to speak.

"So? It's fifty/fifty. Half of them end in divorce, so what about the other half?"

"So, what? They stay together. It doesn't mean they're in love. It's called settling."

"If you decide to stay with someone that long then I'd assume they were!" Wally said crossly.

"Or because it's convenient to be together. But how do you know that someone is 'the one'? They're not walking around with a sign saying: 'Looking for Artemis Crock, I enjoy archery, torturing Wally West, and long walks on the beach," Artemis answered. Wally froze. That statement out of his teammate's mouth made her sound vulnerable, scared, almost like a little girl.

"It's something you feel." Wally grimaced at his response because it sounded so romance-novel.

"I'm going to let that cliché response slide," Artemis quipped. "But there are so many people in this world, that you will never meet anyone who's your perfect match."

"See, that's the problem," Wally said. "If you think like that then it'll never happen." He tried to ignore the embarrassed blush creeping up his neck. "You have to say that you'll accomplish all those things before you die."

"When I die nothing will change," Artemis said negatively, slumping her head on the couch.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up a little bit! That was a little dark for my taste!" Artemis managed a smile at Wally's outburst. "And why do you think that?" Artemis flipped over to her back, her hair splayed around her, her eyes on Wally's.

"Because nothing ever does," she said simply. Wally picked up a piece of her hair from the couch and started twisting it around his fingers.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Whenever someone dies, people are sad for a day or two, then they move on with their regular business… like nothing ever happened, or that person meant nothing to them." Artemis' thoughtful stare bore into Wally's eyes as he continued to wind and twirl her golden locks. She flipped her hair from under her back and onto Wally's lap, since he had such a fixation with it.

"No way! People can be screwed up forever after their friend's or families' deaths. Like all of those war veterans coming home all messed up because they had to watch their friends die. It's a pretty significant thing in a person's life, Artemis," he argued.

"All I'm saying is that people come and go in life all the time. There's no use crying over something that will never change," Artemis said after a long moment. Wally froze in a clever response he was working out in his head.

"That was deep," he admitted. Artemis smiled.

"Thanks, just one of the many things I'm good at: philosophy." It was Wally's turn to grin.

"Don't get too presumptuous on me. There's still two other movies to watch." Artemis groaned at Wally's proclamation.

"They better not be stupid," she warned.

"I actually ended up getting _Lord of the Rings_ since you were all up in my grill about it," Wally admitted, getting up to put the DVD in the player. Artemis' face lit up.

"No way! Well it's only a suitable punishment, I suppose. An eye for an eye?" Wally turned to her with a genuine smile.

"Something like that."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Impish feet and tiny toes twirl on the glossy, wooden floor. The slender, exposed legs kick and turn their way across the room. She looks up and the sunlight catches her gray eyes on a perfect angle. They smile, sparkle in the light, and her teeth mirror the stormy orbs. _"Battement,"_ she whispers to herself, her leg reaching, as if being pulled by a string into the air, up to her face, that beautiful face. Her back arches, away from her leg that's suspended in front of her, into a backbend, and a split follows soon after. _"Pas de bouree, rom de jambe en l'air." _The words sound like a melody, falling over her tongue, past her teeth. _"Pirouette en cinquieme."_

She twirls, her toe to her knee, toned arms above her head, and her hair follows. Oh, that hair. He watches as it turns and whips around and around. She falls gracefully into another split, then flips onto her back and sits up, propped on her elbows, the glimmer of a smile passing over her lips. Golden tresses tumble over her bare back, curling around her uncovered shoulders, finally settling over her unclothed breasts making her look like an exotic mermaid, or a model. She beckons, her eyes say it all, she beckons him over and he drifts in her direction easily.

Her smile lights the room, and he touches the elfin features gently. His hands brush her face, her ears, her lips, even her thighs. Without a word, she leans over and kisses him. Her lips taste like peppermint and she smells like vanilla. His tongue explores her mouth, caressing its crevices and she simply moans, the sound gravitating from her throat gently, her hands weaving through his hair. She allows his hands to move freely, to touch her: that face, that hair, that body, all his. His hands feel their way down the length of her physique, his tongue continuing to work through her mouth, feel each tooth. And her moans become louder, rougher, and begin to sound more like individual notes in a song all her own.

His fingers tickle her arms; dance over her shoulders and down her back and stop before gliding up to her perfect breasts. He waits a moment, listening to her song as she begins to explore the inside of his mouth. He's entranced by the feeling of her, the smell, the taste, and begins to bite her lip, unconsciously. She sighs, a new note in her song, and runs a hand down his stomach, the abs he's worked so hard to maintain. The moment is so perfect; so still and surreal, and he's so spellbound that he has forgotten where he's stopped, and his hands continue their trek up her form.

His hands work her breasts and she moans, long and slow, her hand gravitating to his face, holding his likeness in her palms and she continues to caress his form and kiss his mouth. His hands begin to travel her stomach as her kisses become hungry and the smell of vanilla is a drug to him. His hands stop, and he waits, worried she won't allow him. Noticing his lack of movement she breaks the kiss and strokes his face.

"Green means go," she whispers simply, and proceeds with the kiss. He can feel a smile bubbling on her lips as his hands begin to move again. And in spite of himself, he smiles too, and hesitates a moment before entering her center.

The smell of vanilla disappears to be replaced by strawberries and cream tickling his nose. And he groans as the taste of peppermint, the taste of _her_, is ripped from his senses. He struggles to grasp on to her, to touch those breasts, that hair one more time. But she simply smiles and waves, dancing away as her likeness grows fainter and fainter, and the only thing he can see is the glint of the sun in her hair.

And the moment is broken as he is brought back to reality, the line between the dream world and the real world becoming more and more pronounced. His senses turn on high alert and he fights back the urge to curse and spew venom as he recognizes the interior of the base. Then he notices the current sleeping position of him and his arching counterpart.

Artemis' head was nestled comfortably in his lap, the intoxicating smell of strawberries and cream radiating from her hair. Her lotion smelled like honey and Wally smiled in spite of himself. Her face was placid, and he absently leaned over to brush a stray lock, like spun golden ribbon, off of her closed eyelids. Suddenly the calm composure present on her face broke, like a stone hitting a mirror, and she looked uncomfortable, more like terrified, and she moved around in his lap, like she was running or struggling.

Wally leaned over, his face inches from hers, when she jumped awake, her forehead slamming into his own.

"Ouch! _Tits!_" Artemis shouted, rubbing her head. Wally stared at her questioningly, ignoring the pain in his own.

"Did you just yell 'tits'?"

"It's more PG-rated than 'fuck'," Artemis snapped. "And why were you all up in my grill? Haven't you ever heard of personal space?" She asked crossly, maneuvering herself out of Wally's lap and onto the cushion beside him.

"I was worried, you looked like you were having a nightmare, Not-So-Sleeping Beauty," Wally retorted.

"Oh? And what kind of dream were you having, Sir Snores-A-Lot?"

"Th—Th—That's not the point!" He stuttered. "We're talking about _you_ right now, fidgety."

"I do _not_ fidget, Kid Attention Deficit."

"You were convulsing all over the sectional!" Wally shouted, gesticulating wildly. Artemis jumped off the couch and crossed her arms.

"I was not! You're delusional!"

"At least asleep you couldn't talk!" Wally groaned and mirrored the archer's stance.

"I wish _you_ couldn't talk!"

"I wish _neither_ of you could talk!" The duo heard Dick's disgruntled voice shout from his spare room down the hall. "Especially at three in the morning!"

The two heard thundering footsteps down the hall, and Conner entered the room. He simply knocked over a lamp and stood in the doorway, crossing his arms indignantly. Megan padded into the room a moment later, red hair tangled, and followed closely by Dick, who was irritably pulling a black hoodie over his form.

"Megan, how did you get here so quickly?" Wally asked. "Your room is at the opposite end of the base." The entire team, including Conner, rolled their eyes at his question.

"Oh… must've fallen asleep in Conner's room while we were doing homework… Oopsy…" Megan said awkwardly, fidgeting her feet.

"Save it, Megs," Artemis grinned. "KF just doesn't want to admit that you're off limits." Wally rolled his eyes and tried not to look at the archer.

"The team is sick of being woken up at three in the morning by your constant bickering," Dick said cantankerously, ruffling his already mussed hair.

"Speaking of the whole team, where's Aqualad?" Megan asked, looking around for the absent Atlantean.

"I don't know, sleeping in his clamshell?" Wally answered tiredly. The group groaned at his answer and Wally could tell, they were trying not to slap him.

"I give up!" Dick exploded. "I'm going back to sleep and I hope I won't see any of you until at least noon!" The Boy Wonder's communicator beeped just at that second and he released a Conner-like cry of frustration. "I hate that city!" He erupted as he made his way out the door, running on two hours of sleep. As soon as he disappeared, the four remaining teens looked at each other.

"Well, I'm going to sleep in my _bed_," Artemis shot at Wally. "The couch wasn't even that comfortable anyway," she added as she traveled in the direction of her room.

"Your bed head begs to differ!" Wally shouted at her receding back.

**Author's Note: **_I was up writing the last part of this chapter at midnight. So I hope you liked it! Chapter 6 may take a while since I have to write a mission and I am not good at those. Anyways, I'm in the process of writing a one-shot, and have like… eight other one-shots and another multi-chapter swirling around in my head. So watch for those. _

_Also, my lovely beta _**sweetandunknown**___has some pretty fantastic stuff up at the moment. Some glorious one-shots with brilliant fluff and UGH! I love it. I love her. All of them are amazing. She is also typing away on a three-shot as I speak. She also has another three-shot, two one-shots and another multi-chapter in the works. All are being worked are, all are amazing ideas and beautifully written, all are Spitfire. Check her out!_

_To continue, my other buddy, _**loveHP47**, _has her new YJ fic up. Spitfire of course. Called 'Catalyst'. And it's amazing. SO MUCH ANGST. AND SO CUTE. She's also working on another multi-chapter that I've heard the plotline for and am waiting for with bated breath. _

_My other best friend Nikki, _**thesebrokenthings**_, has joined our family so check her out, and give her some love! She's also an amazing writer, been doing it since the fourth grade and she would really love some reviews right now! She's working on a multi-chapter fic at the moment, but I'm sure the plot bunnies will be getting all up in her grill real soon. _

_(This is the last thing, I promise) Me, _**sweetandunknown**_, and _**loveHP47**___are also creating a collab account where we already have two one-shots and a mulit-chapter in our little notebook of fic ideas. We don't have an account set up yet, but as soon as we do, I'll let you know. _

_Thanks for being so patient! I love you guys. As always, read and review, tell your friends and check out my buddy, _**MidnightRoulette**_. _

_Till next time. _


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